A Couple of Fun Activities for Kids

What, you might wonder, does one do with kids when it rains in Barcelona? Especially when you have an apartment that doubles as an echo chamber (blame the antique tile floors) and a fear that the frighteningly quiet neighbors might try to have you evicted because of the shrieks from within your four walls? Thank god it doesn't rain much in Barcelona (the drought here is terrfying, actually, and some of Spain is now being compared to the Sahara not far to our south - good article on this link).

The answer, in our case, was a trip to one of the many private indoor playgrounds on offer throughout the area. And anyone who knows Rob will not be surprised to discover that we not only sought out such a facility, but sought out the most unusual and far flung location we could come up with - in a strange mall in a town/suburb to the South called Casteldefells. The facility in question was a bit surreal, but we had a blast, in no small part because there was a wonderful clown there who helped entertain the kids. See the album for more color - it's worth a look. You should also know, as a closing point, that I (Matt) was the only father of many in attendance who volunteered to help said clown in a kid-team competition with a mom leading the opposing team. The whole competition took place in Catalan, so I just muddled my way through, and earned not a few adoring mom admirers as a result. Who says I'm shy?

The second gallery on offer is from our trip today (applause, please, for prompt blogging) to Tibidabo (or, as the kids liked to call it, Tippy Tapo). This is nothing less than an amazing place - an amusement park perched atop the tallest hill in Barcelona with shockingly beautiful views. One has to take a train to a tram to a funicular to get there, but gosh is it worth the trip. And today, I am pleased to say, despite it being the beginning of the tourist season, we basically had the run of the place. You get bracelets, not individual ride tickets, so Cory and Addy just went on as many rides and many times as they wanted. We capped the day off with a visit to a lovely playground with our friend Emily and a friend of hers, Alicia, who has a two year old daughter. It was simply a lovely, lovely day. The kids were thrilled to be spending time with us after their first full week in the school program (absence does, in fact, make the heart grow fonder, even for toddlers), and that they got to go to an amusement park (using so many forms of transport to get there, no less) was icing on the cake. Yay Barcelona.